The contents...

The contents, as mentioned above, have a broad human appeal and shall be dealt with in subsequent sections; as for the structure, it is very much inline with the particular Islamic and Shīʿa teachings and whose relevance would not be appreciable by readers who are not acquainted with the spiritual etiquettes of prayers within Islam.

The Imam commences every prayer with the Praise of God and sends salutations upon the Prophet and the members of his household and ends the prayers with salutations.156 In many prayers the Imam frequently invokes the blessing of God upon the Prophet and his family during the course of the prayers not merely at the beginning and end.157 The reason for this is that there are uncountable reports from the Prophet and the Imams that God accepts prayers and supplications when they commence with His praise, similarly there are numerous reports stating that a guaranteed means for the granting of requests is to invoke God’s blessings upon the Prophet and his household.158 The Qur’ān commences with the praise of God in the very first chapter named Surat al-Ḥamd or Surat al-Fātiḥa (the Chapter of Praise or Opening) where it states: al-ḥamdu-li-llāhi rabbil-ʿālamīn “All praise is for Allāh the Nurturer of the worlds…”159 Similarly the Muslim daily devotions, which comprise of seventeen units to be prayed throughout the day, contain the statement: samiʿ Allāhu liman ḥamidah “Surely Allāh responds to the one who praises Him” in every single unit.160 As for the invocation of blessing and salutation upon the Prophet and his family the Qur’ān states: inna allāha wa malāikatahu yuṣallūna ʿala n-nabiyy yā ayyuhalladhīna āmanū ṣallū ʿalayhi wasallimū taslīman “Indeed Allāh and His angels send blessing upon the Prophet thus O you who believe, invoke blessings and salutations upon him!”161 1.1 Basic General Tenets of the Prayers within the Ṣaḥīfa 1.1.1 Individuality and Spontaneity The Ṣaḥīfa is a collection of prayers recited by the Fourth Shīʿa Imam ʿAlī b.

al-Ḥusayn on various occasions of his life and in different personal and psychological states. Prayers in Islam and within the Twelver Shīʿa tradition enjoy a prominent place within the communal and individual life of the Muslim. Prayers fundamentally are means of relation and connection between the individual and God and fall into a variety of classifications as attested to by all three of the above authors.